UM's Stephen Morris shines early, but not enough to avoid rout at FSU

TALLAHASSEE—In the days leading up to Miami’s game against Florida State, Hurricanes coach Al Golden expressed hope—yet again—that Stephen Morris’ ankle woes were behind him.

“He looks different. His personality is coming back,” Golden said this past Tuesday. “He’s not worried about it, there’s no anguish over anything. He’s starting to feel good and get back and we’re excited.”

Saturday night in Tallahassee, Morris had moments where it seemed like the injury was still bothering him, and then showed the flashes of brilliance that had Golden encouraged.

Still, despite completing 16 of 28 passes for 192 yards with two touchdowns, Morris couldn’t help Miami get past the 3rd-ranked Seminoles who were dominant in the second half and pulled away for a 41-14 win over the Hurricanes.

“They didn’t really make any major adjustments. I thought they had a pretty good game plan from the get-go,” Morris said. “Our biggest thing is that we have to convert on third downs and stay on the field a little longer, play smarter and just learn.”

Morris, who injured his ankle in Miami’s win against Savannah State back on Sept. 21, has struggled since the injury, leaving Miami’s win over USF early and throwing a career-high four interceptions against North Carolina.

Against Wake Forest last week, Morris still had a few errant throws, but the Hurricanes escaped with a win after a stellar performance from running back Duke Johnson who had a career-high 30 carries for 168 yards and who scored the game-winning touchdown on a 1-yard run with 53 seconds remaining.

This time, despite two well-thrown early touchdown passes against Florida State, Morris and the Hurricanes didn’t fare as well.

With Miami already trailing 7-0 when it took the field for its first drive, Morris was able to move the Hurricanes down the field and into Florida State territory. But an incomplete pass intended for Stacy Coley on 3rd-and-8 stalled the Hurricanes drive and Miami sent out kicker Matt Goudis who missed on a 44-yard field goal attempt.

“Florida State likes to play a lot of man and Hurns had a great route, just a slant and go and he did a great job of concentrating on the ball,” Morris said. “The second one, the same guy Hurns just did an unbelievable job of making sure he got his depth on the right route, the corner route, and he hauled it in pretty well.”

After Florida State took a 21-7 lead, the Hurricanes came up with another Winston interception—this one by Rayshawn Jenkins—that helped set up another scoring drive for the Hurricanes.

But before Morris completed a 14-yard scoring pass to Hurns, the quarterback scrambled for a 9-yard gain inside the Seminoles’ 20-yard line on 3rd-and-10.

He didn’t get the first down, running out of bounds short of the down marker, and coming up limping.

“I just kind of landed on it wrong. The field kind of caught me off guard when it was up top and then it went down,” Morris said. “I kind of hit a hill, I guess and it just buckled up a little bit. But the adrenaline at that point will take over and it’ll be fine.”

Three plays later came the touchdown pass to Hurns, but that was as good as it’d get for Morris, who was 7-of-12 for 117 yards at the half with two scoring passes and no turnovers.

In the second half, Morris made a couple mistakes.

With the Hurricanes trailing 21-14 to open the third quarter, he was whistled for intentional grounding on Miami’s first drive of the half. On the Hurricanes’ next possession, Florida State’s P.J. Daniels picked off a Morris pass and the Seminoles turned that into a 12-yard touchdown run by Miami native Davonta Freeman, who pushed Florida State’s lead to 35-14 with 3:41 left in the quarter.

Morris had another interception later in the half.

“On the first pick, I just tried to give it all I got. I tried to make a play,” Morris said. “The second pick was just a one-on-one matchup…I trust Clive [Walford] and I know he’s going to make that play for me. It didn’t happen that one particular play, but I’m going to go right back to him and that play will just help us learn better and help us communicate, but it is what it is.”